Latest news with #Nettavisen
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Norway's windfall: should it go to Ukraine?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. "Are we a nation of money-grubbers and war profiteers?" That's what we must look like to our European neighbours, said Asbjørn Svarstad in Nettavisen (Oslo). Norway is sitting on a huge war windfall that could solve the continent's problems in an instant. Our sovereign wealth fund is now worth €1.7 trillion – and €109 billion of that came straight from our neighbours' pockets. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin cut off Russian gas supplies, sending energy prices skyrocketing and leaving Norway to lap up the profits as the continent's biggest gas supplier. And given that our European allies are pushing their budgets to the limit to help fund Ukraine's fight for survival, we owe it to them to plough that money back into rearmament. Yet until last week, when, under significant pressure, the government more than doubled its contribution to €7 billion – we were the "Uncle Scrooge" of Europe: shamefully, we've donated less to Ukraine as a share of GDP than our Scandinavian neighbours. Even €7 billion is a "pathetic" amount, said Peter Wolodarski and Christian Jensen, the editors (respectively) of a Swedish and a Danish newspaper, in Aftenposten (Oslo). We used to view the home of the Nobel Peace Prize as a generous and globally orientated country. Now we "don't recognise our Norwegian brothers and sisters". But Norway's government has stood its ground, said Håvard Halland in the FT (London). Even the finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who previously as head of Nato pushed countries to give more, argues against donating more to Ukraine. The wealth fund is governed by strict fiscal rules, he argues: it's specifically designed "for future generations of Norwegians". And he's not alone in flatly rejecting the idea that Norway has a "special responsibility" to help Ukraine, said Eirik Røsvik in Verdens Gang (Oslo). Norway's former finance minister, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, argues that Norway has no need to penalise itself for being a perfectly legitimate energy exporter. And besides, he says, "if Norway were suddenly to give three times as much as, let's say, Germany has done, other countries will soon give less". Far better, he believes, that Norway just remains a "stable" ally of Ukraine. Alas, my country is drunk on "the illusion of wealth", said Knut N. Kjær in Aftenposten. Oil riches aren't the same as power, and we're still a small vulnerable country on the border of Vladimir Putin's imperialism. "More than ever, we need predictability and security in our relationship with Europe", and we won't get that by being "opportunistic egoists". In fact, donating the windfall would be an investment in our future. Ukrainian soldiers are battling an "existential threat to freedom and democracy" – not just to their own country but to ours, too.
Local Norway
13-02-2025
- General
- Local Norway
Six names you can't give your baby in Norway
When a baby is born, the parents have six months to register the child's name on the website of the Norwegian Tax Administration. Standard names (like "Olof Dahl", "Siri Nilsen", but also, say, "Peter Jones", or "Mohammed Saifuddin") normally get registered automatically. But anything unusual gets vetted by a case worker to make sure the name complies with Norway's 2003 Naming Law, which can take up to three weeks. Here are some names that absolutely wouldn't pass muster: Fitte. The Norwegian slang word for a woman's vagina, meaning roughly "pussy", is absolutely certain to get rejected as a first name. But that doesn't stop people trying. Ivar Utne, a name researcher, told the Nettavisen newspaper that "every conceivable name for male and female genitalia has been applied for.' The general rule for first names is that they must not cause "significant inconvenience" to the person given them. This is up to the discretion of the case officer, but words deemed "offensive" will not get approved. X Æ A-12. This was the name Elon Musk and the Canadian musician Grimes famously tried to give a son born in 2018. It would certainly be rejected in Norway as all submissions must have the "character of a name". The proposed names "B" and "2" have both been rejected in the past by the Norwegian tax agency for this reason. Prinsesse. Proposed names that are also titles are generally rejected, so "Prinsesse" or "Kong" would be out. Prince and Princess are, however, quite normal names in certain African countries, so it might be possible for some foreigners to overturn a rejection if they receive one. Diaree. There is a famous (perhaps apocryphal) case of a foreign couple who wanted to name their child "Diaree", which can apparently mean "gift of God". This was an accepted name in their home country, but The Norwegian Tax Administration then got back to them to inform them that it means "diarrhea" in Norwegian. "It may be that the name has a negative meaning in Norway but is a completely normal name abroad," Roar Sellevoll, Director of the Population Register, told The Local. "In such cases, we try to inform the parents so they can reconsider, or the request is rejected." Pepsi. Names of well-known trademarks or companies are also generally banned as first names, although if the parents can show it is a common name in their country, like "Nike" for the Yoruba people of Nigeria, for instance, the agency might allow it. Olsen. The naming law does not allow the use of a common surname as a first name (or, indeed, a common first name as a surname). The exception is for names are already commonly used as both, like, for instance, the French surname Richard, the English surname Christian, or the name Mohammed.
